GAINESVILLE, Ga. – North Hall's season isn't over yet. But for those that were at the game Friday night, their hearts probably skipped a couple beats down the stretch.
Trailing 20-13 with five minutes to play, the Trojans pulled another little bit of Brickyard magic out of the hat to score a pair of touchdowns and block a field goal to advance to the Class 3A quarterfinals in a 27-20 win over Upson-Lee.
"Our team is just resilient," said head coach Sean Pender. "We have a bunch of guys who work really hard play after play and keep doing their jobs for each other. We are very excited and happy at this result and we look forward to getting to play again next week."
The Trojans tied the game up on a Luke Jenkins 7-yard touchdown pass from Smith McGarvey with 4:48 left. After Upson-Lee drove down into field goal range, the North Hall defense held and forced a kick. The kick was no good, but the Trojans jumped offside, allowing for another chance for the Knights to attempt to retake the lead.
Setting up to retake the lead, the Trojans blocked the kick to retake possession. With just under two minutes to play, McGarvey heaved the ball downfield toward Cole Cable and, after the ball was batted into the air, Cable came down and sprinted to the endzone for an 88-yard touchdown to take the lead for good.
The game started with a Walker Vining 30-yard field goal in the first quarter before the Knights took the lead at the two minute mark on a 1-yard run. Upson-Lee extended their lead to 14-3 on a 90-yard touchdown pass late in the first half before the Trojans answered midway through the third with a Jenkins 2-yard run.
Vining kicked a 34-yard field goal to give North Hall a 17-14 lead early in the fourth, but Upson-Lee answered just seconds later on a 53-yard run to make it 20-17 before a missed extra point set up the exciting finish.
With the win, the Trojans will play host to Lagrange next week in the state quarterfinals.
